* 12:25 pm - The US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit has denied an emergency motion by George Ryan’s attorneys to continue Ryan’s bail.
From the opinion…
The voluminous record here demonstrates that the appellants were guilty of the crimes with which they were charged. Although they would undoubtedly like to postpone the day of reckoning as long as they can, they have come to the end of the line as far as this court is concerned. Two different panels of this court have already decided that bail ends with the issuance of the mandate. Because we are affirming the district court’s judgment, the district court’s receipt of the mandate will not require that court to take any new action on the case. The motion to stay the mandate is therefore DENIED. By separate order, we also have denied the motion insofar as it seeks reconsideration of the decision to terminate bail with the issuance of the mandate.
* The opinion is here
* The order is here
* From the dissent by circuit judge Kanne…
The trial was riddled with errors that ultimately rendered the proceedings manifestly unfair and unjust, notwithstanding the production of overwhelming incriminating evidence against the appellants. Therefore, because the trial was “broken beyond repair,” there is good cause for a stay and the appellants have a reasonable probability of succeeding on the merits.
* 1:42 pm - From the AP…
Trial Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer has said Ryan and Warner must report to prison Nov. 7. They now are expected to appeal for bond to Justice John Paul Stevens, the Supreme Court justice who oversees matters originating in the Chicago-based 7th Circuit.
* 2:25 pm - Another update from the AP…
Ryan’s attorney, former Gov. James R. Thompson, said he was preparing to ask Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens to grant bond to Ryan while he takes his case to the nation’s highest court.
“We’ll probably do it within the hour,” Thompson said Wednesday afternoon, though he acknowledged it would be extremely unusual for the high court to grant an appeal bond.
“It hasn’t happened for the last 35 years, I don’t believe, but I’ve never seen a stronger case,” Thompson said.
LIVE special session coverage...
- Patriot - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 12:32 pm:
Finally!!!
- Levois - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 12:37 pm:
He’s delayed it long enough. He got convicted in the court of law and he’s never seemed to have shown any contriteness on his part. Especially have never expressed regret over what he should have done. I hate to see an old man go to jail, but he must do the time now.
- curious george - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 12:46 pm:
Well, Just in time for Halloween! Gov George can now put on his new wide-striped suit (read: Convict Clothes) and head out for a last fun night on the town before suffling of to Duluth.
- Ghost - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 12:48 pm:
its never a good side when the decent siding with you makes a comment like “…overwhelming incriminating evidence against the appellants.”
- Wumpus - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 12:49 pm:
Well, maybe he will finally report to jail by March of 09.
I do think the trial was fishy, I think he is guilty, but he should get a new trial.
- curious george - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 12:49 pm:
…shuffling off to Duluth… ( I hate it with no spell check on phone)
- Gregor - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 1:02 pm:
I hear Duluth is pretty in November.
Pretty cold.
Enjoy your situation George, you made it and earned it. No sympathy for an old man here, he made choices as we all do and now he has to live with them.
Warming up in on-deck circle, the Raconteir from Ravenswood….
- Anon Again - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 1:04 pm:
BYe George
- Cassandra - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 1:18 pm:
Will this have a deterrent effect on our Blago?
I think not. Pols are good at convincing themselves that they’re not like those other pols who got caught.
- Just Because - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 1:21 pm:
I too think the trial had problems, but he is guilty. Just think he will be going in and Faywell will be getting out!
- Doodles - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 1:36 pm:
As I recall, what precipitated his downfall was the license-for-bridges scandal, which as I recall, was precipitated by an fatal accident involving a family in a van and a trucker with a license-for-bribe. We must all remember that. The intense pressure on SOS employees to come up with money for his campaign fund, esp. managers, may have contributed to the fatal accident, by putting unqualified truckers on the road. While his conviction was for run-of-the-mill corruption that many in Illinois seem to tolerate, his actions had real life, serious consequences. Time for him to serve time.
- Doodles - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 1:37 pm:
Meant license for BRIBES scandal
- Team Sleep - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 2:10 pm:
Doodles, I will take one bridge, please. A drawbridge at my house would be most helpful for winter.
- anon - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 2:40 pm:
Doodles…well said.
- MOON - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 2:44 pm:
Why do people want to dance on “the grave of George Ryan”? Admittedly he was found guilty and unless the the supreme court overturns the decision he is off to jail. However, the public, more specifically the comments posted here need not relish in this man and his family’s anguish and sadness over the outcome. Show a little respect, the man is guilty but has done much good during his lifetime.We all make mistakes! It’s time to forgive and forget!
- God's Country - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 2:57 pm:
What Moon said.
- Justice - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 3:02 pm:
Ryan knew full well what he was doing was wrong, when he did it. Yes, he did do a lot of good, but that doesn’t give him a pass to step on the backs of others on his climb to power. He was found guilty due to overwhelming evidence of corruption. He has since used his relationship with another powerful man to try and wiggle out of serving time. No dancing on his grave here but glad to see him finally pay the piper. Now….on to Blagojevich. 2008 will be very, very interesting!
- Feeding the birds - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 3:14 pm:
So when does the clock start ticking for George Ryan for time served? Or has it already?
- pickles!! - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 4:09 pm:
Might have better luck appealing to John Paul Jones… , or John Paul, George and Ringo for that matter
- curious george - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 4:24 pm:
Gov Dan Walker in an Op-Ed piece in the 10/28/07 SJ-R indicated Duluth is a wonderful place to spend a quite time reflecting on one’s life and accomplishements. Maybe George could write a book about what Walker termed “mindless brutality” such as the “repeated strip searches” and “forced to watch inmated being sodomized”. Prison reform is another one of those things like political ethics reform. Both get a lot of lip service but no substantial action! Everyone who gets caught cries foul.
- jaundiced eye - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 5:00 pm:
MN newspapers have been reporting that the Duluth fed. prison has a new warden and that the “new management” is vastly improved over Guv. Dan’s days. A former inmate, now Chicago cabbie, told me the baseball team is good and made up of guys from Chicago.
I hope everyone clipped Rod’s recent remarks on George’s final comeuppance so they can be read back to him at some point in the future when he, inevitably, also joins the ranks of the softball team in Duluth.
- Far From Over - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 6:35 pm:
Blagojevich is still dealing with issues of his own as state and federal investigations into state contracts, board appointments awarded to campaign supporters and questionable state hiring practices continue to swirl around his administration.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 7:11 pm:
There but for the grace of God or an inattentive Patrick Fitzgferald goes the general assemebly and Gov. Rod
- Duluth for not telling the truth - Wednesday, Oct 31, 07 @ 8:20 pm:
I read Gov. Walker’s editorial. A family member of mine who did time in Leavenworth in the early 80’s in the general population (though a white collar criminal, he couldn’t go to a club fed because at that time inmates who needed to receive insulin daily had to be in at a different type of facility) said that they (the other inmates) only hassled the young guys and that he, since he was 50ish, was left alone (which is probably why Walker witnessed sodomy but wasn’t a victim).
- Aaron Slick - Thursday, Nov 1, 07 @ 6:57 am:
Now the interesting part begins. George Ryan originally had bought into Big Jim’s sales pitch that Big Jim and Winston & Strawn could keep him safely out of prison. They had plenty of “clout” or so they explained to George.
George, meanwhile, has suddenly realized that he had better seriously look into Plan B. This “Plan B” is where George sings like a canary about everybody and everything that he knows to be corrupt in state government. Patrick Fitzgerald begins to play the role of Monty Hall of “Let’s Make A Deal” fame with George and offers him a reduced sentence.
Big Jim and dozens of state and municipal public servants start scurrying for the lifeboats aboard the SS Ryan as it drifts closer and closer towards the looming giant iceberg. Rod is on the fore deck leading the others in singing “Nearer My God To Thee”. Illinois tourism bureaus are suddenly beseiged with requests for tourist information regarding foreign countries that do not have extradition treaties with the United States. Stay tuned for Act III in the ongoing drama titled “Clout in Illinois Before & After Pat Fitzgerald Rode Into Town”.